The Samantha Smith Challenge

Maine Teachers can register now for the 2016/17 edition (scroll down).

Mission

The Samantha Smith Challenge (SSC) is a dynamic educational program for Maine middle school students designed to build a bridge between the classroom and the world and to create curious, courageous, and engaged citizens. SSC projects show students that, no matter what age, they can be part of solving the challenges and problems they see around them.

The SSC is a program created by AWTT and designed to honor Samantha Smith by encouraging students to act in her spirit.

In December 1982, Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, asked her mother “[Who] would start a war and why. She showed me a news magazine with a story about America and Russia, one that had a picture of the new Russian leader, Yuri Andropov, on the cover. We read it together. It seemed that the people in both Russia and America were worried that the other country would start a nuclear war. It all seemed so dumb to me. I had learned about the awful things that had happened during World War II, so I thought that nobody would ever want to have another war. I told Mom that she should write to Mr. Andropov to find out who was causing all the trouble. She said, ‘Why don't you write to him?’ So I did."

From that one question, a peace-making venture unfolded that brought Russian and American students together to build understanding and appreciation of one another and to focus on building connections instead of armies. Sadly, in August 1985, both Samantha and her father were killed in a plane crash.

The Samantha Smith Challenge encourages every Maine middle level student and classroom to start making a difference in the world today, just as Samantha Smith did 30 years ago when she wrote a letter to Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov asking him, “Please tell me how you are going to help to not have war.”

A Quote from Howard Zinn

An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

REGISTER BELOW

You do not have to be sure what your classroom issue or issues will be to register. You can let us know what they will be later. In the meantime, start helping your students discover their concerns and to begin their research!

Name *

If you are registering as an Individual Student, put your name in the name form. If you are registering as a group or classroom, put the team leader or teacher’s name in the name form.

Are you registering as an Individual, Group, or Class? *

If registering as a group or class the User Account name should be [Name’s] Group or [Name’s] Class.

Class

e.g. 4th grade, 5th grade, etc.

School Name *

School Address

Contact Email *

Contact Phone number

What is the Issue you or your group/class will address?

Please state your Issue as a question

i.e., How can our school/town reduce its carbon footprint?

Please list up to three community members who will help you address your issue.

Use comma for separation

Do you agree to allow AWTT and MAMLE to contact you with information regarding the SSC challenge and to use projects you submit as examples of work done by students and schools participating in the SSC?

Yes or No

Create AWTT account?

Password

Confirm password

Provide a password for the new account in both fields. Password must be at least 6 characters.

This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

SSC Guidelines

SSC Standards

Participation in the Samantha Smith Challenge (SSC) yields rich educational benefits that reflect academic standards, 21st century learning outcomes, and social, emotional and civic dispositions, as it empowers young adolescents to identify and investigate unresolved issues in their communities.